


The one about a fallen angel.

by werewolve



Series: Ineffable Husbands Ficlets [3]
Category: Good Omens - Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, M/M, aziraphale falls okay, fallen aziraphale au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-05
Updated: 2019-08-05
Packaged: 2020-08-09 17:44:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,666
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20122366
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/werewolve/pseuds/werewolve
Summary: i had no idea where i was going with this but enjoy





	1. Chapter 1

It’s not often you hear about a new Demon. 

New humans in hell? Yeah, happens all the time. They pass on, they go to hell, natural order and all that. 

New Demon? Not as likely. 

No Angel had fallen since before the war. Not one. Lord Satan had his legions of Demons and he was satisfied, everybody else was the enemy. Crowley had fallen (sauntered gracefully) with the original lot, now labelled as ‘original’ because of the fact that today. At exactly 10:34 am, a blip appeared on Hell’s systems. 

Crowley had been watching TV, some soap opera that he wasn’t all that interested in but he didn’t have much else to do, when one of the characters turned directly to the camera and spoke his name. 

“Crowley.”

“Uh,” He panicked for a moment, “Yeah, here, who’s this?” 

“Beelzebub, Lord of the Flies.” The voice was incredibly not like Beelzebub, but that’s how their communications system worked- morphing human voices in radios and TVs. 

“Oh, right! Didn’t we say we weren’t gonna be in contact anymore? You know after that whole antichrist palaver?” 

“Yes.” Beelzebub frowned on the other side of the TV line, not quickly forgetting what had gone down in hell. “But something big has happened, an Angel has fallen.”

Crowley, who had been taking a long sip of his wine, spluttered, almost dropping the glass, “A what?!” 

“An Angel has fallen for the first time since before the war. They are on earth. We thought you should know.” 

On earth? Bloody Hell, this was serious. 

Before Crowley could reply Beelzebub continued, “He will not be happy, Crowley.”

“Who? Who won’t be happy-“ There was a buzz, and the TV went black, no chance of getting a response anymore. 

Sighing, Crowley placed down his glass and stood, pacing the room for a moment as he processed the information. 

Fallen Angel. That’s kind of a big deal isn’t it? He wondered if Aziraphale had gotten wind of the news too, surely Heaven wasn’t going to miss this. He walked over to the phone, clicking the button that speed-dialled Aziraphale’s number, and waited through the rings. 

It went to answerphone. 

He rang again. And again. And again. 

All answerphone. 

That wasn’t usual. Not for Aziraphale. The last time that happened he was in trouble. Crowley squinted, chewing on his lip. Perhaps he’d pay him a visit, make sure no Angels had started deciding they could bother him again, that’d be fair wouldn’t it? 

The drive to the bookstore was a long one, rain splattered down onto earth like God herself was angry with the world- perhaps she was. Or perhaps Crowley was thinking too much into the pathetic fallacy of it all. Queen played softly on the radio, and by softly I mean full blast. There wasn’t really a working volume setting anymore. 

Arriving at the store, Crowley was quick to notice the closed sign on the door, and the blinds drawn on every window. 

This wasn’t too out of the ordinary- Aziraphale had sporadic closing and opening times, a purposeful choice to ensure nobody actually shopped at his store. 

Ignoring the notice, Crowley knocked. 

He received no answer. 

So, being himself, he didn’t bother to knock again. Just opened up the door and walked on in.

“Aziraphale?” His tone was curious, gentle, he glanced around the room to no avail. The Angel nowhere to be seen, “Aziraphale? Are you back there?” 

“Crowley?” The voice that replied to Crowley was hoarse, rough, as though it had been grated by something terrible. The Demon sensed something off. Aziraphale sniffled. “Crowley, please, go away.” 

“Oh I don’t think so, I just drove through the eye of the storm to get here,” He pulled a face, scrunching his nose, “I’m coming through.” 

“Crowley please-“ 

The sight that Crowley saw upon making it to the backroom of the store was one that would be ingrained into his mind for all eternity. The Angel was hunched over in the corner, sat on the floor with his knees hugged to his body and cradling his right hand close to his chest. His eyes were bloodshot and puffy, his nose red.

“-don’t come in.” 

“Aziraphale what happened? Are you okay? Did somebody do something?” Crowley rambled out of fear mingled with a little rage, “Was it one of the Angels? Michael? God I’ll kill him, was it Michael?” 

“No, no!” The Angel shook his head, his words sounding rather like a sob, “It wasn’t anybody Crowley, for goodness sake calm down.” 

“Calm? Angel, you’re huddled into a corner crying,” He sighed, running a hand down his face and nodding slowly, “Right. Calm. What happened?” 

Aziraphale seemed to think for a moment, rubbing at his cheek before pushing himself up to stand with the hand he had been using to hold the other. “Nothing, nothing happened Crowley. Just a silly accident.” 

“Silly accident?” Crowley knew Aziraphale was clumsy, but this seemed a bit of a loud reaction for a silly accident. He hadn’t seen the Angel cry in years. 

“Silly accident. Nothing more.” Aziraphale however, made the mistake of moving his other hand into Crowley’s line of sight.

And what he saw made his skin crawl. Aziraphale’s fingertips were burned. And not just a ‘slightly red and maybe blistered because I touched a hot kettle by accident’ kind of burn. No, the kind of burn that you should probably be rushing to A&E over. The kind of burn that Angels don’t get. 

“Zira your hand...” 

Aziraphale’s eyes widened, and he pulled his hand back to his chest, hissing in pain at the quick movement, “It’s nothing. Like I said I had an accident, it’ll be healed in no time. Angelic powers and all that.” 

“That doesn’t look like a little accident,” Crowley inched closed to Aziraphale, holding out his hand, “Let me see.” 

The Angel knew Crowley well enough by now that once he knew something was wrong, he wouldn’t ever drop it until he had an answer. It was endearing at times, to know that Crowley cared so much about his wellbeing, but this was something far worse than anything in their past. He obliged, placing his injured hand into Crowley’s palm, and was shocked to see Crowley immediately pull back. 

“No. Impossible.” 

“What? What is it? It isn’t infected is it, that’d very much make a bad day worse.” 

“It’s you. You’re who they were talking about.” Crowley pushed a hand back through his hair, everything hitting him at once, “He won’t be happy. They told me, he won’t be happy.” 

Crowley looked back at the Angel, a sadness behind his eyes that couldn’t be seen beneath his sunglasses. “What did you touch, Zira?” 

Aziraphale seemed confused, still shaken by the mornings events, but he knew at least what Crowley was asking. He glanced over at a book that lay discarded across the floor. 

The Bible itself. 

Crowley’s breath shuddered, and within a second he was enveloping Aziraphale in a hug. 

“You fell.” 

Aziraphale gave a long stuttering breath that sounded as though he’d been holding it back for years, “I just wanted to reorganise the store. As soon as I grabbed it... Crowley it was like touching a hot poker.” 

Crowley shook his head, letting the Angel keep close to him as he spoke, “What about the others, your collection, did any of them do the same?” 

“No, no. Just that one.”

“Then what’s different about that one?” 

“It was said to be blessed,” Aziraphale gasped, clearly coming to some realisation, “If thy Angelic soul should choose the pathe of many mortal laid above and in spite of thy’s own law, ye shall feel as Demons feel, fell through cloud to cloud.”

Crowley looked at Aziraphale with furrowed brows, “What?”

“That’s the blessing. That they gave to the book. ‘If an Angel should choose to act as Humans do, you will fall, and feel what Demons do’, burned, I assumed that means. You will feel burned.” He looked pleading, frantic, despite his almost calm explanation, “I’ve fallen. You were right.” 

“But nothing else Holy has any effect on you?” 

“No not at all, I visited the Church earlier this morning to deliver something and felt no different than usual.” 

“Then you’re not a Demon...” 

“Then what am I?” 

Crowley couldn’t give a straight answer to that, mostly because he had the same question himself. So instead all he could do was give a faint whisper of the knowledge he did have, “We’re truly our own side.” 

“It would seem so.”


	2. A little more on falling.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> this is separate to the intial ficlet but still within the same realm of my take on fallen!aziraphale

“Is it painful?”

“What?” Crowley looked over at the Angel, raising a brow, his snake-like eyes reflecting back the image of Aziraphale staring off at something in the distance.

They were sat in the bookstore, a glass of Merlot wine in hand. Aziraphale had not even taken a sip of his, instead he looked almost as though he wasn’t even entirely present. 

“Falling?” Only now did he move his gaze, looking with as little movement as possible over at Crowley, “Does it hurt?” 

“Why do you ask?”

“Answer me.” Aziraphale spoke in a harsh tone, one Crowley did not hear often, and when he realised how forceful he had been, he softened only slightly, “Please, Crowley, just answer me.” 

“Yes.” The Demon sighed, running a finger around the rim of his glass, “It’s painful.” 

“How painful?”

Crowley looked at Aziraphale. Searching his expression. The Angel’s eyes were pleading, desperate, they had a sheen to them that almost suggested he was tearing up. 

“It feels like, somebody is separating a part of you. Like your innards are being pulled from your body through holes far too small for them.” Crowley might have held back, if not for how serious Aziraphale seemed, “You can feel a part of yourself burn away. The Angelic part.”

“I’m scared, Crowley.”

“I know you are, Angel, but I’ll be right here.” 

“And if I change? If it changes me?”

“Then we’ll meet all over again.”


End file.
